For the sake of trimmed trees, many Utahns are unintentionally killing a lot of baby birds and leaving “oodles” homeless.
Screech owls have a reason to screech when a careless tree trimmer cuts down their nest.
“This is exactly the wrong time of year to be doing this,” said DaLyn Marthaler, executive director of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah, a nonprofit based in Ogden. “This is very bad for the baby birds.”
(Photo courtesy Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah) Three screech owl nests, along with “oodles” of other animals, have had to be rescued when their homes were cut down.
A lot of the baby birds (and squirrels) don’t survive the impact when their nests hit the ground. But the center has been receiving up to 40 birds a day, which “feels like more this year than other years,” she said. “And it doesn’t have to be happening. This is not the right time of year to be trimming trees.”
That’s a chore best left for the fall, long after baby birds have flown their nests.
“Wait until there’s no leaves. It’s better for the trees. It’s better for the animals,” Marthaler said. “And it’s a lot more comfortable to do it when it’s cooler.”
She said most of the problem comes from homeowners doing the trimming themselves or hiring tree trimmers.
Rocky Mountain Power doesn’t have the luxury of waiting until autumn — its crews trim trees “all year long,” said spokesman David Eskelsen, to keep power lines across the state safe.
“But our crews are always on the lookout for that. They are very careful about it,” he said. “There are times when we’ll wait and return later to trim trees because of the nests we find.”
(Photo courtesy Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah) This screech owl nest was cut down, leaving its occupants homeless.
Meanwhile, the Ogden-based wildlife center is caring for dozens of baby birds and, in some cases, their parents. The center is happy to help but is feeling a bit “overwhelmed.”
It isn’t easy to care for three nest full of baby screech owls — more than 10 birds — along with myriad other breeds.
“We’re very busy,” Marthaler said. “But we want to do everything we can.”
There’s no hard-and-fast rule of what to do if you find a downed nest.
“Contact us first,” Marthaler said — after making sure the nest is in a “dry, safe, warm place” that is “not in harm’s way.”
Some downed nests can be returned to a tree. Members of her team recently attached a piece of a branch in which a Downy woodpecker had built its nest to another part of the tree. And some nests can be returned to branches.
But for most “cavity nesters,” like those screech owls, Marthaler said, “there are really not a lot of options other than bringing [them] in to us.”
By the way, it’s an “old wives’ tale that if you touch them, the parents won’t take care of them anymore,” she said. “That’s not the case.”
It is, however, against the law to cut down an occupied nest under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
“Technically, it’s illegal to disturb a nest once it’s established,” Marthaler said. “And we’ve had this happen, when people knew there were animals in there and they cut it down anyway.”
The chances of prosecution are slight, however, particularly given that the Trump administration, reversing decades of policy under previous Republican and Democratic presidencies, has issued orders that the act should not be used to punish anyone whose actions knowingly or unknowingly kill birds.
